Picking a new beach volleyball partner can be a relatively straightforward process. Players from a same country typically know each other fairly well and it doesn’t usually take long for them to figure out who could be a good fit on and off the court when looking for a new teammate.

Possibly the most coveted player in Latvia, after he made it to the semifinals of last year’s Tokyo Olympics with veteran Martins Plavins, Edgars Tocs decided to be a little more thorough in his selection process to determine who would be by his side for the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour's inaugural season, which begins in March.

Hoping to identify the most promising young, up-and-coming talent in the country, the 33-year-old blocker set up a training group with six players, all aged between 16 and 20, and took his time practising with all of them before making a decision.

The strategy allowed Tocs, who won an FIVB World Tour event in The Hague in 2018 and the Tokyo Olympic qualifier in Haiyang in 2019 with Plavins, to fully evaluate the list of potential candidates, which included Kristians Fokerots, Enests Puskundzis, Olivers Bulgacs, Davis Teteris, Rudols Stankevics and Donavan Mioss. He looked at their technical skills, commitment level and mental toughness.

“It all started because I needed a group of players to practise with,” Tocs told Volleyball World. “Plavins had done something similar in the past and I thought it was a good idea because this way I’d be able to see how they reacted in a professional environment and how much they were willing to commit to the sport. We are training and going to the gym together every day. And then I can pick the best player from this group to play with.”

The dynamic created an interesting scenario not just for Tocs, but also for the six players who saw themselves in a daily battle to improve their skills, but also to impress their most experienced and illustrious training partner before he made his selection.

“I believe we had a good atmosphere in training,” Tocs reflected on how his younger training partners reacted to the system. “I think it’s a positive that we were able to put these players in a professional setting, but only time and results will tell if we’re going in the right direction or not.”

After a few weeks of training, Tocs took his decision. It will be the 17-year-old Fokerots who will be his partner at the start of the 2022 season. The 1.96m-tall prospect played at the U18 European Championship in each of the last two years, taking silver in 2020 and finishing fourth in 2021.

“He has the talent to become a very good player,” the veteran explained. “We’ve been training together for a while and he made a very good impression. He’s got a lot of physical potential but there’s still a lot of work to be done. In a certain way, he reminds me of myself when I started as I wasn’t the most technical player, but managed to be competitive with my physical tools. The goal is that we get better together.”

Even after the selection process is complete, the training group will continue working together. A training camp outside Latvia is set to take place in February, when the young players will be able to play against international teams.

The goal, Tocs explained, is that all the players involved (and Latvian beach volleyball) can benefit from the system.

“When we decided to set this up, it wasn’t just about myself,” he added. “We believe this group will also create new teams to compete in youth European and World Championships in the future. And hopefully, they will also be able to represent Latvia internationally when I and the other older players retire.”

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